Investigation of Social Construction of Violence and Exploitation: A Case Study of Children and Women in Gowa Regency, Indonesia

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate social construction of children and women within the cycle of violence and exploitation in the Gowa Regency, Indonesia.   Theoritical Framework: The high incidence of violence against children and women is a worrying concern in Gowa Regency, Indonesia. In this context, the influence of power and the operation of social constructs contribute to the increased occurrences related to the internalization of values within a society. Previous results were analyzed from a medical perspective but did not examine this crime as part of social construction.   Method: A case study method was used by conducting interviews with 18 children and women in the regency. The data analysis method was conducted in stages: (1) thematic analysis of interview results to identify main categories related to violence against children and women, (2) analysis of the main themes in each sample; (3) cross-theme analysis to determine commonalities and differences, allowing for the generalization of themes across the three cases, children labor exploitation, and women as victims of divorce.   Result and Conclusion: The results showed that there was a distressing phenomenon of children being socially constructed as sex workers. A critical contributing factor to verbal violence against women in households is the normalization of such violence by husbands within the framework of marital relationships.   Implication of Research: The process of social construction, with its stages of internalization, objectification, and externalization, preserved the image of women as victims of violence within the confines of official marriages.   Originality/value: This study presented the theoretical concept of violence against children and women at a substantive level.